Cooke Fuels Supports Young Enteprise Scheme

Here at Cooke Fuels we are really proud to be supporting the Young Enterprise Scheme.  When we first heard about the QuickStart Programme through Bill Docherty, our Deputy Chairman, we decided it was something that we just had to get involved with.

Cooke Fuels is 165 years old and is a family run business that is headed up by Frank Carroll who is amazingly entrepreneurial. His business acumen has driven forward this and other businesses. These family values run heavily through the business and centres on the support and care we show our staff. The staff, in turn pass this on through their customer service which is second to none. Our HR department is very important and we recruit staff for the long term and invest in our staff whether they are graduates, apprentices or experienced staff in their field.

As we are Burnley based and large employers in the area we are always looking for ways to bring quality candidates through the door. This is why we felt the Young Enterprise QuickStart Programme was for us. We want to be a part of helping the next generation of employees to succeed.

At the time of writing this we had just finished working with Hameldon Community College and are half way through working with Fisher More RC High School. We have chosen representatives from some of our key departments to go into the schools and work with the children. Firstly, our HR Manager Marian Davies on how to set up a team and allocate jobs, next is our Marketing Assistant, Ben Duckworth who leads them on how to promote, market and sell their product/s and our Accounts Assistant, Matthew Garner, who teaches profit and loss. I attend the school at the end of the week to show that Directors, particularly female, Directors are very approachable and great to work with and also to prepare the way for the winners to present their product to all the Directors in the Barrowford head office board room.

We all feel we are looking forward to working with the third school that has yet to be identified, and also the final with the winners from each school. However, the major feeling here is pride, to be able to encourage, empower, and hopefully help a young person to go on to achieve something in their life time is a powerful feeling.

So, what is stopping you getting involved too?

Lesley Eland Sales and Marketing Director